SLED is now investigating

Four jail officers have been terminated after an internal investigation found they did not follow procedure during the processing of man arrested on a misdemeanor charge, according to Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright.

Wright held a news conference Thursday afternoon to discuss a complaint made by the man last month.

Wright said the man was booked for a misdemeanor on July 4.

"He wasn't an axe murderer," Wright said.

After the man was released, he filed a complaint that things were not done correctly.

"I'm going to be honest with you," Wright said. "A lot of the complaints we get are from noisy, loud-mouth drunks are just that, noisy loud-mouth drunks. But that's the reason we check to make sure that it's not just a noisy loud-mouth calling and complaining. This time it was not, and we took appropriate actions."

According to Wright, an internal investigation was done and it was determined that four jail officers did not follow procedure.

"His complaint was valid," Wright said.

Wright would not go into detail about what happened but did say that deputies took the man to the hospital.

When asked if the complaint involved racial slurs or beating, Wright said no and could not go into further detail because it is now under investigation by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

Wright said there is video of the incident and that video has been turned over to SLED.

He said a criminal charge could come from this.

"If the public needs to know anything, we're going to do what's right, all the time. We're going to treat people that are brought into our custody at the Spartanburg County Detention facility with dignity and respect as long as they allow us to do that."

"We promise we're going to do what's right,” Wright said.

"I cannot help what people do. I can only help how I respond to it," Wright said. "The actions of those four people does not represent what 99.9 percent of the officers do here at the

NOW TO A SLED INVESTIGATION OUT OF SPARTANBURG COUNTY. JAIL OFFICERS THERE - LOST THEIR JOBS AFTER AN INCIDENT INVOLVING AN INMATE WHO... DEPUTIES SAY... WAS UNCOOPERATIVE. NEWS 4'S MIKE MCCORMICK IS LIVE AND LOCAL IN SPARTANBURG.. MIKE.. WHAT'D YOU FIND OUT? WHEN ASKED IF THE INCIDENT INVOLVED RACIAL SLURS, LANGUAGE, OR A BEATING - THE SHERIFF SAID NO. HE DID SAY THAT THE INMATE HAD TO BE TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL.. 51:16 "I cannot help what people do. I can only help how I respond to it." SPARTANBURG COUNTY SHERIFF - CHUCK WRIGHT - SAYS HE HAD TO FIRE FOUR JAIL OFFICERS EARLIER THIS MONTH. 48:16 "the actions of those four people does not represent what 99.9% of the officers do here at the Sheriff's Office every day." HE SAYS IT STARTED WHEN A MAN ARRESTED FOR A MISDEMEANOR ON JULY 4th... 49:35 "he wasn't an axe murderer." ....GOT OUT OF JAIL - AND FILED A COMPLAINT ABOUT SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED WHILE HE WAS BEING PROCESSED AT THE JAIL. 48:39 "i'm going to be honest with you. A lot of the complaints we get are from noisy, loud-mouth drunks are just that, noisy loud-mouth drunks, but that's the reason we check to make sure that it's not just a noisy loud-mouth calling and complaining. This time it was not, and we took appropriate actions." THE SHERIFF WOULDN'T GET SPECIFIC.. BUT HE DID SAY THE INCIDENT WAS CAUGHT ON CAMERA. THE STATE LAW ENFORCEMENT DIVISION NOW HAS THE VIDEO.. AND THE CASE.. 47:37 "I know that's a limited amount of knowledge I can give you, but we promise you that we're going to do what's right, and we're going to do what's right in every situation." THE SHERIFF SAYS IT'S POSSIBLE - CRIMINAL CHARGES COULD COME FROM WHAT HAPPENED. 54:27 "if the public needs to know anything, we're going to do what's right, all the time. We're going to treat people that are brought into our custody at the Spartanburg County Detention facility with dignity and respect as long as they allow us to do that." ALL SLED WOULD SAY IS THAT IT IS INVESTIGATING AN INCIDENT THAT HAPPENED HERE.. AND THAT IT WOULD BE INNAPPROPRIATE TO DISCUSS THE DETAILS BECAUSE IT'S PART OF AN ONGOING INVESTIGATION. MIKE MCCORMICK, WYFF NEWS FOUR, LIVE IN SPARTANBURG COUNTY.

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